Hallmark: Americans help Haitians recover from 2010 quake

Residents of the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti wait for customers outside their tent, where they have set up a stand to sell rice, oil and canned goods, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the nation.

Edner Gue, right, and Labon Florestal work to clean up the earthquake-damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville on Friday in Petionville, Haiti. The director of the school is paying workers to clean it up and plans to open classes even if the government does not rebuild it.

Hallmark

A cross memorializing the victims of the 2010 earthquake who are buried at the spot in mass graves is silhouetted against the setting sun in Titanyen, Haiti.

A group of boys sit on the rooftop of a home damaged by the 2010 earthquake.

Edner Gue unloads a wheelbarrow filled with rubble.

Line Jean, 28, combs her hair in the Tapis Vert camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Two Haitian vendors take shelter from the heat in the shell of a building damaged by the 2010 earthquake in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Gerson Virgile, 31, fixes his shoe as his son plays nearby in a camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake.

Mileine Pierre, 34, combs the hair of her daughter Jessy Vila, 10, as she holds her other daughter Jesnove Vila, 3, outside their tent.

Labon Florestal takes a smoke break as he works to clean up the earthquake-damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville.

Three years ago Saturday, an earthquake devastated Haiti, killing 316,000 people, injuring another 100,000, and leaving more than 1 million homeless.

We have no suitable frame of reference for the magnitude of Haiti’s suffering. Hurricane Katrina killed 1,833 and damaged or destroyed 1.2 million homes. Hurricane Sandy killed 132 in the United States and damaged or destroyed approximately 400,000 homes.

The highest fatality for any U.S. disaster is the 1900 Galveston hurricane (6,000 killed), and the highest toll from a U.S. earthquake was the estimated 3,000 who died in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. The San Francisco Bay area earthquake in 1989 (the “World Series quake”) killed 63.

By contrast, Haiti’s earthquake killed about 3 percent of its total population and left 10 percent of its residents homeless. Imagine a disaster that would kill some 9 million to 10 million Americans, destroying our entire infrastructure, and leaving all residents of Texas and Oklahoma homeless.

The magnitude of this disaster is greater than we can fathom.

Some may assert that Haiti’s suffering was self-inflicted, the result of centuries of government and corporate corruption. There is some truth in that assertion.

Some even argued at the time of the disaster that it was God’s judgment on the Haitians for past and present sins. I find that objectionable, but it is an expressed perspective.

Regardless, neither of these assertions changes the reality: Haiti remains a mess. Fortunately, thousands of Americans and others from around the world have understood their obligation to help relieve suffering in Haiti.

New Year’s Eve’s Sun Bowl featured 15 USC football players who have spent time in Haiti, building four homes for Haitian families and playing with children in the schools. As one might expect, the players went to serve the Haitians but found they were more blessed by the experience than anything they may have given. One player noted that everything in his life up to that point had been about him — workouts were about making him stronger, school was about making him smarter.

Serving in Haiti was a completely selfless act, one that changed him forever. Another player found it refreshing that no one in Haiti knew they were “stars;” The Haitians only knew they were helping.

These football players are just examples of the great work many have provided — whether in Haiti or in Houston — to help others. It happens every day, all over the globe, those blessed give to those in need.

Unfortunately, we don’t always realize how blessed we are nor how we can bless others. It is too easy to focus on our problems and overlook others’ needs. The reality is that regardless of the severity of your needs, there are others around you who need what you can provide.

I find this one of the great lessons from the three years of assistance that has flowed into Haiti.

You may not have the opportunity to travel to Haiti, but you can give money to make it possible for others to do so.

You may not have a thousand dollars to give to Sandy victims in New Jersey, but you can give a dollar.

You may not be able to give anything financially, but you can give of your time to tutor a student struggling in school or mentor a boy without a father.

You may not have skills to build a new home for a Haitian, but you can push a wheelbarrow or pass out water.

The devastation is everywhere — horrific floods, devastating tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, poverty, hunger. We can and should help.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Dr. James Hallmark is the vice chancellor for academic affairs at Texas A&M University in College Station.